Thierry Schwartz, Le Restaurant

67210 OBERNAI

16/20
Remarkable Restaurant

5 PHOTOS

Chef Thierry Schwartz

Cooking French | Signature cuisine

Services Children's Menu | Delivery Service | Disabled access | Pets allowed | Takeaway

Price Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

65€ à 175€

Gault&Millau's review

16/20

Remarkable Restaurant Situated not far from the ramparts, this small half-timbered house has been practicing uninhibited gastronomy for over twenty years, and over the years has become the Alsatian den of naturalness. In the rustic dining room, around the fireplace, Thierry Schwartz cultivates a back-to-basics attitude like a religion. His cuisine is fair, based on informal experience and sharing, the antithesis of formatted gastronomy, with a strong commitment to local producers and artisans. He recognizes the qualities of his terroir. He makes the most of every vegetable with care and creativity, using flesh, peelings and tops. Carrots, for example, are served in a faux earthenware pot, a chickweed cream topped with buckwheat, then the vegetable's tops are cut off and infused at the pedestal table in a carrot extraction. Behind every dish is a passionate market gardener or a fish farmer who respects nature. The Arctic char from the Heimbach springs is sublimated by an accomplished technique, even if the fresh Lupstein mustard "sabayonnée" has a texture more starchy than airy. Lively and inventive, this cuisine harmonizes textures and colors, inventing surprising new combinations. Eden broad beans from the Saint-Blaise kitchen garden are served in a broad bean pod emulsion, a little too salty for our taste, with iodized mertensia maritima and a surprising raspberry oil. This new style of cooking goes so far as to transcend household basics like veal breast roasted in the hearth, which resonates perfectly in today's landscape. In addition to the ritual of bread, a loaf of which is presented raw at the start of the meal and then baked during the aperitif, we witness the ceremony of butter churning in the dining room. Although the restaurant has no maître d'hôtel, it boasts a young, relaxed service with an eye for everything, even if the plates are cleared too quickly. The 1,700-strong cellar is famous for boasting Europe's largest selection of natural wines, not to mention a rich collection of spirits, including chartreuses and bas-armagnacs from the 1930s. Coffees come from Mokxa and exceptional teas from Nana Ding.